EU observation mission highlights “peaceful” vote in São Tomé

“ Aelections have run in an orderly, quiet, peaceful and calm way. There were no registered cuts or assemblies that did not open, as happened in the presidential elections, and we noted this with great pleasure,” said Portuguese MEP Sérgio Humberto.

“ So far, we have observed about 50 (...) voting assemblies. We have 15 openings and there are no major incidents to be recorded. The only thing we can spare from the observation we made is a slight delay in opening some voting assemblies,” added Ana Catarina Mendes, head of the European Parliament’s observation mission delegation.

Sérgio Humberto stressed that observers have recorded “an improvement in professionalism, (...) of methodology in the voting assemblies, compared to the presidential ones” of July”, giving as an example a greater “privacy on the spot” where people vote.

The turnout to voting assemblies has been the same as in the previous elections, admitted, when São Tomé and Príncipe recorded a record abstention (58,81).

But the head of the mission noted that it is still premature to move forward with numbers on the turnout to the polls and preferred to make an appeal to the participation of the Santomians: “It is a duty that we must exercise to strengthen democracy. They are electing the district chambers, they are electing the future government of the country, they are electing the deputies of the National Assembly and it is very important that all women, all men, all young people participate.”.

The MEP also stressed that “when there is more participation, democracy is strengthened”.

The EU’s election observation mission is again headed by Portuguese MEP Sérgio Humberto, while the EP delegation – a novelty in relation to the previous electoral act – is led by Ana Catarina Mendes and is also a member of MEPs Catherine Martins.

The former Prime Minister of Equatorial Guinea Vicente Ehate Tomi heads the observation mission of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries (CPLP), an organization formed by Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.

In addition to CPLP observers, African Union, G7+ countries, the Economic Community of Central African States (EECAC) and the Network of Jurisdictional and Administrative Bodies of Portuguese-speaking Countries (ROJAE-CPLP) are present.

To the parliamentary elections, local and regional elections of 27 today in São Tomé and Príncipe run four parliamentary parties: Independent Democratic Action (ADI); Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe (MLSTP); Coalition Independent Citizens' Movement/Party of National Unity (MCI-PUN); and Movement Enough.

Three other parties without parliamentary seats vote: the Democratic Convergence Party (DCP), the Democratic Movement Force of Change (MDFM) and the newly created Political Movement Our Earth.

For the legislatures are in dispute 55 seats of the National Assembly and are registered more than 146 thousand voters, an increase of almost 4,000 compared to the presidential elections of 19 July, when Carlos Vila Nova was re-elected, at the first round.